PATH variable management in Linux CLI - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to display the current PATH variable.

Linux CLI

echo $[1]

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

APATH

BHOME

CUSER

DPWD

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using $HOME or $USER instead of $PATH.

Forgetting the $ sign before the variable name.

The PATH variable holds directories where the system looks for executables. Using echo $PATH shows its current value.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to add the directory /usr/local/bin to the PATH variable temporarily.

Linux CLI

export PATH=[1]:/usr/local/bin

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A/usr/bin

B$PATH

C$HOME

DPATH

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Omitting the $ sign before PATH.

Replacing PATH instead of appending to it.

To add a directory to PATH, prepend or append it to the existing $PATH variable using export PATH=$PATH:/new/dir.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the code that tries to add /opt/bin to PATH but overwrites it.

Linux CLI

export PATH=[1]:/opt/bin

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A$HOME

BPATH

C$PATH

D/opt/bin

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Writing PATH without $ causing the variable to be overwritten.

Using unrelated variables like $HOME.

Using PATH without $ treats it as a string, not the variable's value. Use $PATH to get the current PATH contents.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to permanently add /custom/bin to PATH in the .bashrc file.

Linux CLI

echo 'export PATH=[1]:[2]' >> ~/.bashrc

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A$PATH

B/custom/bin

C$HOME

D/usr/local/bin

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Overwriting PATH by not including $PATH.

Adding wrong directory paths.

To add a directory permanently, append export PATH=$PATH:/custom/bin to ~/.bashrc. This keeps existing PATH and adds the new directory.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to create a script that adds /my/bin to PATH only if it's not already included.

Linux CLI

if [[ ":$[1]:" != *":[2]:"* ]]; then
  export PATH=[3]:/my/bin
fi

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

APATH

B/my/bin

C$PATH

D/usr/bin

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Not using colons around PATH for accurate matching.

Using PATH without $ to get its value.

Appending instead of prepending PATH.

This script checks if /my/bin is in $PATH. If not, it prepends it. The syntax uses [[ ":$PATH:" != *":/my/bin:"* ]] for safe matching.